upier

I know the manual states the lug nuts get torqued to 96 ft.lbs. However I thought I remembered reading that there was a Tech bulletin that raised it to I think 102 ft.lbs. Am I dreaming?

semicycler

I can't seem to find the official notice. But Loren over on Renntech posted this from the 2012 service manual:

Silver wheel bolts (up to model year 2011) = 96 ftlb. or 118 ftlb. also permitted retroactively.
Silver wheel bolts (as of model year 2012) = 118 ftlb.
Black wheel bolts = 118 ftlb.
Center Lock wheels - 444 ftlb. (that's right four-hundred-forty-four foot pounds.)

OKB

almost every lug bolt in the world is ok for 95 to 105 lbs. i always use 95, it will never matter unless its not tight enough or over tight to break the bolt or damage the wheel

stairmasterman911

I had a mechanic tell me that the torque wrenches we buy for maybe $100-150 are not accurate anyway so just let them do it. I imagine there was a good bit of "you're an idiot - I'm a mechanic" built into his response, but it got me to wondering how accurate our not $1500-2000 torque wrenches really are.

OKB

my 1985 craftsman is accurate enough

tuxkilla

There was a great grassroots motorsports article about the accuracy of torque wrenches a while back. The harbor freight wrench turned out to be pretty good, while the snap-on wrench wasnt as accurate.
Just make sure to set your torque wrench back to zero between uses.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...eally-bad.html

Petza914

118 ft. lbs. is the current spec and retroactive back through the complete 997 generation, maybe the 996 one too. Old spec was 96 ft. lbs. Not sure what instigated the change (didn't hear of a lot of wheels falling off - LOL).

I set my digital Snap-On wrench to about 70 lbs, and do an initial torque in a cross-pattern, then move it up to 100 ft lbs and repeat, then hit them all a 2nd time, which usually shows on the readout between 105-112 when all is said and done. Figure that's between the old 96 and new 118 ft. lbs specs and haven't had any issues with vibrations, loose bolts/nuts, stripped out nuts/bolts, or stripped out hubs. I run Tikore or World Motorsports Ti Lug Nuts & Bolts on 3 of the 5 P-cars (928 has aluminum ones and don't recall what's on the 914).

platinum997

Does it really matter that much? I'm asking because I honestly don't know. I have always just used a breaker bar and got them tight. Never had any issues...

I only worry about torque specs when working on motors.

North Shore 911

FWIW, I was told by the Serve Dep't. at my local P Dealer that the right setting was 120 ft. lbs. for our .2's (which they seemed fairly confident about). I always set it there when I swap out my summer and winter tires, but I agree that I'm not sure it matters all that much. I never used a torque wrench on my '04 645 CiC when I swapped my summers and winters and I never had a problem ...

extanker

the mechanic is right

StormRune

Unless you get one of these... retails for $300 but selling on Amazon for under $150: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...ilpage_o05_s00

+/- 3% accuracy clockwise max, all metal construction, and comes with a card showing the calibration readings of your particular wrench (mine showed calibration readings well less than 3%). This is actually a Snap-On company.

Batman33

If you are concerned about the accuracy of your less-than-expensive, non-Snap on, non-Cornwell, etc., torque wrench, it is not hard to test it. Plenty of information as to how to do it is available on line.

OKB

120 lbs. that sounds like something the service dept will say. When I let them touch my wheels, the car comes back with the lugs on so tight, I have to put a extension pipe on my breaker bar to break the lugs off. For the most part, its how hard the impact gun will go as to how hard they put the lugs on. Theres no excuse for that. can you imagine getting a flat and trying to take your tire off on the road with a lug tool
The mechanics at these dealerships need to read the instructions from time to time

BIG smoke

Was helping a buddy change his snow tires over on his X3. His last service was at a local garage.
It took two of us, with a 4 foot pipe on the breaker bar, to get his lugs off. I'm thinking a torque wrench was not used for the install. Is there a 1120/lbs setting?
I'm pretty confident with my 96/lbs +/- setting.

jhbrennan

Two comments:

1) You would think your service department would know the specs - obviously they don't.

2) If it didn't matter, why even set a specification?